Tar Heel junior forward/center Armando Bacot is the ACC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week for January 2-8 after averaging 25.0 points and 19.5 rebounds in a pair of games, including a 29-point, 22-rebound performance in Carolina’s 74-58 win over Virginia on Saturday.
The Richmond, Va., native and Dean’s List student established career highs in rebounding in both games with 17 in a five-point loss at Notre Dame on January 5 and 22 against the Cavaliers. He became the first Tar Heel to grab 15 or more rebounds in consecutive games since Luke Maye in 2019.
Bacot made 21 of 31 shots from the floor in the two games to increase his ACC-leading field goal percentage to .642.
Bacot is currently one of three players in the top 10 in the country in double-doubles, field goal percentage and rebounding. He leads UNC in scoring at 16.6 points per game and is averaging 11.2 rebounds. His double-double against UVA was his sixth in a row and 11th in 15 games this season.
He is second in the country in double-doubles, leads the ACC and is fifth in rebounding and is eighth in field goal percentage.
Against Virginia, he made a career-high 12 field goals and had a career-high nine offensive rebounds, most by a Tar Heel since Kennedy Meeks had 10 at Clemson in 2017.
His 22 rebounds vs. Virginia were the second most by any player in a collegiate game in the Smith Center. He also became the first Tar Heel with 20 points and 20 rebounds since Brice Johnson had 39 and 23 at Florida State on 1/4/2016; was the first player to have 20/20 against Virginia since Wake Forest’s Tim Duncan had 21 and 23 in 1997; and grabbed the most rebounds by an ACC player in any game since 2016.
This is Bacot’s first ACC Player of the Week award and Carolina’s first since Cole Anthony in 2019-20.
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